Countdown to Christmas: A Carol For Another Christmas (1964)

 Imagine, if you will, a man, grieving for two decades after his son died in World War II, and so resistant to the then-present, such that certain spirits have come to change his mind.

Produced for the United Nations and airing initially on ABC, A Carol For Another Christmas had only one broadcast until it was picked up by Turner Classic Movies several years later, where it airs every year. This modern spin on the oft-adapted Dickens classic sprang from the pen of Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone), recasting Ebenezer Scrooge as a grieving parent named Daniel Grudge (Sterling Hayden), who is still mourning the loss of his son 20 Christmases past. Second generation actor Peter Fonda had originally been cast as Marley Grudge, but most, if not all, of his scenes were edited out, leaving a portrait Fonda posed for. Grudge's nephew, Fred (Ben Gazzara, ex-Arrest & Trial, and 9 months away from Run For Your Life), is a college professor who has had a foreign cultural exchange program with Poland cancelled thanks to his uncle.

Steve Lawrence, Pat Hingle, Eva Marie Saint, Percy Rodrigues, James Shigeta, Peter Sellers, and Britt Eklund co-star.

Reviews upon release were mixed, and largely because of the perception that this was too depressing for viewers. The fact that it took 48 years before TCM picked up Carol should tell you something. This was producer-director Joseph Mankiewicz's TV debut, and he fared much better after this.

No rating. Just a public service.